By Kwanwoo Jun
(In New York)
I. VIDEO (2:36 aired by an NYU TV broadcast)
II. TEXT (436-word published by Pavement Pieces, an NYU online magazine)
III. PHOTO (one still image published by the NYU magazine)
IV. VIDEO
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Occupy Wall Street
By Kwanwoo Jun
LOWER MANHATTAN, New York -- Robert J. Carlson Wednesday camped out for an eighth straight day in Lower Manhattan for Occupy Wall Street, a grass-roots movement aimed at expressing anger over what critics call a financial system failure that favors the rich at the expense of ordinary citizens.
Like hundreds of other activists eating, sleeping and rallying at Zuccotti Park on Cedar Street and Broadway, the 25-year-old from Jersey City, N.J., had his own idea for drawing the public attention: a $20 bill taped to his mouth.
“I started with a $1, and I moved to a $5, and I moved to a $10, and I moved to a $20,” Carlson said. “Either tonight or tomorrow, I’m switching to a $50 and eventually I’ll get up to a $100. “
Carlson wanted to raise public awareness of the three-week movement. Handwritten on the bill was “#Occupy Wall Street” in a black, bold face. A small flag was also placed behind his neck. His strategy worked well. Many passers-by approached him to talk in curiosity. Conversation started with how the bill ends up hanging in front of his mouth but soon shifted to serious discussions about the nation’s flawed financial and tax systems.
Behind Carson were thousands of people rallying at Zuccotti Park. Soon they began marching north towards Foley Square, north of City Hall, Wednesday, in a first major demonstration in New York since police arrested about 700 protesters for obstructing traffic on Brooklyn Bridge on October 1. The crackdown actually helped draw mainstream media attention to the protest that first emerged on Wall Street on September 17.
Carlson said he was a finance worker but refused to identify his firm. He was carrying a sign “I could lose my job for having a voice.”
“This is not just about Wall Street,” Carlson said. “This is about some very serious economic issue that has to do with structural corruption in the way we do business.”
Carlson said he wanted to see change. “I’d like to see accountability for people who are siphoning money and hoarding money from society and people in general for their own benefit,” he said. “My dream right now is to get communications, to get people talking and to get people thinking about ideas and solutions for these issues.”
Carlson used up most of his annual leave in joining the movement. He returned briefly home only twice to take showers in the past eight days. He said he wished to stay at Zuccotti Park as long as he needed to.
His experience there was enlightening. “I’ve been sleeping for 25 years.” Carlson said, “My dream started the second this movement started. This is my dream. That’s why I’m here. We are going to get communications. We are going to get people talking about ideas and solutions for these issues.”
He wore a T-shirt when he first came to Zuccotti Park eight days ago but later changed his clothes to a shirt and tie in protest to the initial portrayal by Fox News and other conservative media of Occupy Wall Street activists as young hippies or homeless people.
With food, medical supplies and even sleeping bags provided to protesters for free at Zuccotti Park, some homeless people and hippies mingled with Occupy Wall Street protesters. But few really cared about who they were as long as they could communicate. Some sat in a circle to debated pending issues. Some played music. Some had fun playing with a dog on a makeshift bed. Some produced a protest sign out of a recycled pizza box. Camaraderie filled the space.
The issues all boiled down to economic injustice and income inequality.
Bucky Sparkle, 39, and his wife Emily Sparkle, 42, were among the volunteer activists at the park. The Sparkles, together with their son Kadin, 4, traveled from Northampton, Mass., to join the rally in New York Tuesday night.
Sparkle who runs a small business at Northampton insisted that the business influence in politics distort information flows and government policies.
“I want to get corporate influence out of politics,” Bucky Sparkle said. “Once we start to get better information, we can have our governing bodies with people that we elect in, and our government process start to make better decisions that are more people-based. I would love democracy. That will be cool. I’ve never lived in one. I’m hoping to someday.”
As their son was blowing soap bubbles, Sparkle held a paper sign “Corporate Lobbyists Can Change the Law for Cheap.” His wife held her own sign “Turn Off Your TV. Anti-Corporate News is Not Broadcast on Mainstream Media.” They strolled around the park and often posed for a camera for journalists.
Economic inequality increases, Sparkle said. “In general, 99 percent is sliding down and one percent is getting stronger and stronger,” he said.
John Samuelsen, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, said his 35,000 New York bus and subway workers were in sync with Occupy Wall Street. “We are here for the long haul,” Samuelsen said. “We are not happy with the way things are going in America. Working families are continuing to bear the burden of the tax cuts that have been granted to wealthy folks in New York.” He was talking about the $5 billion tax cut by the New York State government for the rich and the steep budget cut to welfare and education programs.
The union presence added vitality to protesters in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday. Union members in identical uniforms moved in small groups. They looked more organized than other protesters. Marching protesters carried various signs and flags. Some beat drums, blew a whistle, jabbed their clenched hands in the air and rocked their bodies to the percussionist rhythms. Many passers-by stopped or slowed their way to watch the march across the street. Some onlookers pulled out cell phones to take a photo. “All day, all week, occupy Wall Street,” marchers said in a chant that filled the windy and refreshing air.
John Harris, 56, a bicyclist from Brooklyn, stopped to see the march near City Hall and said the procession was reminiscent of what he had seen decades ago when tons of people took to the streets to oppose war.
“It’s likely that what happens will fizzle out as time goes by, but who knows?” Harris said. “If they continue to pursue anti-capitalist agenda it’s only a matter of time before certain elements of the intelligence community are going to take a notice of it. They will start infiltrate the movement and co-opted it the way they did in the 60s and 70s.”
Prior to the march, Carlson was thinking of whether to change his clothes -- especially his smelly, sweat-soaked and stained shirt -- after days of camping out.
“Maybe not,” Carlson said. “I think it will be profound if I left that dirty.”
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